these possibilities
by Seraph's Blade
Summary: "They could be something. They could be nothing. And it all depended on these possibilities." AU (not demigods), slight OC influence. Happy Birthday Relic.


Birthday present for TheLostRelic, aka swoodily. Edited by Kid and Soul's Girls, previously IfYouLovedMe.

* * *

"We all have a story, of adolescence and all it's glory."

- R. Taylor & T. Kelly

As Annabeth Chase walked into her first ever period of Algebra 2 she saw nothing extraordinary about the new classroom she'd have to spend an hour and thirty minutes of her life in five days out of the week. Well, there was that poster with a picture of a blue eye that stared into her very soul with a caption asking how she lived her life when no one was watching. It made her remember how she'd caved that one time and listened to a Justin Bieber song in secret when nobody was home. She shivered guiltily, hiding behind her blonde curls in shame.

Eventually bringing her silver eyes to the front of the room became tolerable and she gave the most awkward teacher she'd ever seen a quick briefing with her gaze. A young, twenty-something year old man that reminded her of a little boy playing dress up in his father's suit was hastily searching for important papers he'd obviously misplaced, probably a list of names.

"Uh, um, I'm sorry guys, I'll just be a moment." As he stepped away from his podium and exited the room, Annabeth arched an eyebrow in amusement before taking a turn looking at the other faces occupying the space around her.

There was one girl sitting by herself at another table on the far side of the room; Annabeth could see the back of her head—a choppy hairstyle with a few thin braids here and there tied together at their bases with multicolored rubber bands. Nothing too crazy going on there.

Annabeth twisted around in her seat to look at the table behind hers and was greeted with an impish grin that had all of her internal alarms going off. A boy with crazy unruly hair and cocoa skin who looked like he was permanently electrocuted, his body on the verge of spontaneously combusting. With all of his excess amount of energy she could hear his knees jiggling under the table and the clanking of keys; above the desk the boy's fingers were interlocking, combing through his hair making it worse, and just looking for _something_ to do. He winked at her. Annabeth's eyes widened in shock and she righted herself just as the teacher came back into the room.

"Alright, I found what I was looking for," he coughed nervously, ducking his head down in embarrassment. "Um, my name is far too difficult to bother pronouncing so you can call me Mr. O." The man nodded with a small bit of sureness he hadn't possessed a second ago, Annabeth decided she would like him for the effort of confidence. "I know you…Reyna Malhotra, correct?" he pointed a pencil over Annabeth's shoulder to a Latin girl.

"Yes," the smooth drawl demanded attention and everyone complied in a swivel of heads. She was beautiful in a regal way, her head held high, her wavy black hair impossibly glossy. Piercing dark eyes darted behind curtains of even darker lashes, calculating every person in the room.

During this surveillance the electrocuted boy had stopped all movement just to stare at her, his mouth gaping open, eyes wide in complete and utter awe.

"I think I'm in love," he clutched his heart as he swooned under her withering glare of disgust.

"None of that now Mister…" Mr. O looked down at his clipboard, "Valdez?"

"Call me Leo boss man," Leo saluted. "But _you _can call me whatever you want," he waggled his eyebrows across the table.

"Reyna if you wish to move seats…" Mr. O began warily.

"No," Reyna held up her hand in what looked very much like a queen silencing her subject. "He may be of use to me." The young Latin woman trailed her eyes down and back up her newly acquired lackey. "You can walk my dogs Aurum and Argentum if they do not eat you."

"Score!" Leo fist pumped and locked his fingers behind his neck, smiling like she hadn't just given him a dangerous task where he could possibly be maimed or seriously injured by vicious attack-dog mauling. He seemed happy that she'd even addressed him; whether this was either sadly pathetic or a small victory, Leo seemed in favor of the latter.

"Moving on…" Mr. O penned something on his paper, "Miss…" He squinted at Annabeth curiously.

"Annabeth Chase," Annabeth's pretty little mouth was sullen, she was beginning to think that this class wouldn't meet up with the high expectations she'd previously had. At least there was a class clown that would no doubt try to put a smile on everyone's face in the mornings but it didn't quite cancel out the very un-extraordinariness of it all that she'd hoped for. Annabeth looked away from everyone and out the floor-to-ceiling window right next to her, slipping easily into a daydream of a fun interactive class with a wacky teacher that knew how to make things interesting.

She was so irrevocably lost in her imagination that there was no possible way she could have seen or heard the classroom door open once more or notice the boy with hair as black and messy as spilled ink entering. She also couldn't know he'd plopped himself in the seat diagonal from hers or how the green ocean in his eyes remained placid behind his hip black, thick-framed nerdy glasses.

"You must be Percy Jackson," Mr. O smiled at the newcomer, crossing another thing off on his list.

"Yes, sorry I'm late." He offered no explanation and Mr. O didn't ask for one, just accepted his apology and proceeded to make introductions before starting off the lecture. "Please open your textbooks to page 13 and I'm just gonna have you guys try out a few practice problems."

At this Annabeth reluctantly pulled out of her reverie and with a sigh of resignation, dug out her hundred pound book from the catastrophe that was her backpack, and unceremoniously dropped the required text onto her desk with a resounding bang. Satisfied she couldn't have given much better voice to her displeasure she dragged her eyes upwards and was pleasantly surprised by her new tablemate. She began her inspection greedily.

In a brief moment while she was silently observing the boy across from her, pausing every now and then to catalog the features and lines on his face, he caught her watching him, and then looked away.

They didn't glance at each other again even after the rest of the hour was over.

~o~O~o~

Annabeth blamed herself for her awkward inability to understand human interaction, she much rather preferred to observe from afar and even that was too close in her book. She honestly hadn't meant to speak; she kind of just blurted it out.

"I bet Snow White would hate Apple laptops."

"What?"

_Crap…_

"I-I said I bet Snow White would hate Apple laptops…" Annabeth gestured feebly to the white device not 6 inches away from her with a glowing white apple on the top, a petite bite missing from the fruit. She looked at him apprehensively, absolutely terrified. He didn't look like he understood the joke, if he even guessed she was trying to be funny. Annabeth groaned mentally, _stupid, stupid, stupid._ She wanted to bang her head on the table until she died of humiliation. Or maybe be struck by lightning with so much power she'd be reduced to nothing but a pile of ash, that way Percy couldn't laugh in her face and confirm what a horrible comedian she would've been.

Her face was burning; she was probably as red as Apollo's sacred cows.

Then he laughed, a quick bright smile that spread like fire, eyes alight with amusement.

"I get it," he grinned at her before chuckling again, and slowly but surely, the tension weighing Annabeth down became less stifling, allowing her to let a small bubble of her own laughter escape.

She chanced a shy glance at him through her lashes, indulging in that fluttery feeling that was gradually becoming a welcome sensation.

_I could get used to this,_ she thought. Especially those eyes.

~o~O~o~

Mr. O's laptop was right there, wide open on their table as well as the projector that was displaying the most horrendously off kilter graph Annabeth had ever seen accompanied with a quadratic equation that none of the class could make sense of. After several failed attempts to solve it Annabeth decided she could use this time to stare at the boy she wanted to befriend. Though this silent method of observation could be categorized as creepy rather than a step towards friendship, she reasoned that it was only so she could recognize him in a sea of people if the situation called for it in the near future.

So far she'd noticed a quirk. It started off with a repeated click from his pen.

_Click-click. Click-click. Click. _

Pause.

_Click-click. Click-click. Click._

Two beats of silence, and repeat. Annabeth found it a bit strange if not the tiniest bit annoying when he started randomly tapping his fingers onto the desk, not quite finished. His head bobbing along to music only he could hear, Annabeth would watch, completely mesmerized until he stopped.

She had a theory since the very first time she'd witnessed him doing this, and today she would put it to the test. She waited a good ten minutes, sighing in a show of drowsiness and dropped her pen before casually drumming her finger tips along the cover of her textbook, peering across the small distance to see his reaction. It was almost immediate, a subconscious action his hands were familiar with, beginning their rhythmic dance just for her.

~o~O~o~

"I can't believe the levels of your optimism Piper, we've barely said forty words to each other. And our last conversation if you could even call it that made me look like a complete imbecile," Annabeth pinched the bridge of her nose in exasperation and scrunched her eyebrows in displeasure.

"So you noticed he happened to have _some_ muscles, it's not the end of the world. You could have said you were already in love with him," Piper snickered, her kaleidoscope eyes sparkling all range of colors.

"Wait you know exactly how many words you've said? That's kind of creepy Annabeth…" Juniper observed while simultaneously doodling scribbles on a sheet of paper as she stared across the room at the boy she'd set her sights on right off the bat.

It was true, she _had_ counted every word, waging a mental war with her memory so she could recall every sentence he'd said to her since she first dared to initiate contact via her poor sense of humor. After that they'd had two more encounters: the first where Annabeth explained why she'd been up all night working on blueprints; and the second where she'd stupidly admitted to gawking at him while he stretched his arms behind his neck, inadvertently flexing for her. He'd laughed at her confession, the very same laugh he extended generously after hearing her Snow White joke, something genuine that Annabeth appreciated because he'd made her feel comfortable and _funny_.

"I am _not_ in love with him. I don't even know his favorite color," Annabeth paused for a minute, her eyes like saucers when she analyzed her realization. "Oh my gods that means I like him because of his appearance doesn't it? I don't even know him but I like him. How could I be so shallow?!" her breath was slightly panicky, she was better than that! "I'm a despicable human being," she whispered, hanging her head in shame and allowing her mane of gold curls to fall forward.

"Please, it's not that bad a faux pas. I accidently called Jason my boyfriend when I introduced him to you," Piper shuddered, "Gods that was mortifying."

"But you actually got your happy ending as cliché a romance between a beautiful girl and a handsome boy is," Annabeth said bitterly through pursed lips. Piper smiled guiltily.

"It's not too late for yours."

"You sound like a Disney movie."

"And your Prince Charming is over there, go talk to him before he leaves the castle," Piper nodded just over Annabeth's shoulder where two boys were having a conversation by a small group of lab tables. Annabeth dared a glance behind her and locked eyes with lenses. She swiveled forward in sheer terror, knocking her elbow painfully on the corner of the desk in the process.

"Ow…" Annabeth rubbed the wounded appendage and stared hard at the fascinating wood grain of the table, it was truly a sturdy piece of furniture. "I can't talk to him Piper."

"Hey Perce, could you come here for a minute and keep Annabeth company? Chiron wants to talk to me and I just couldn't leave this lady all by herself." Annabeth could just see how Piper's smile would spread slowly across her face and how her kaleidoscope eyes would have the smallest of glints that would allow her feminine charm to persuade even the hardest of hearts.

"Sure."

"Piper!" Annabeth hissed.

"You can thank me later," she winked and flounced away in the direction of the principal's office before Annabeth could properly get her hands around her neck and squeeze just so.

Her attention was needed elsewhere when she was joined by another, a very cute other who so happened to be wearing a plain blue t-shirt that was obviously well worn.

"Hi."

"Hey," she croaked. Funny, her throat hadn't been so closed up before.

"Have you worked on any new blueprints lately?" his voice was neutral, barely a hint of emotion, at least that's what Annabeth thought. She was probably the most uninteresting specimen he'd ever seen or had the misfortune of conversing with.

"Just making some minor alterations, nothing major…"

_Dammit Annabeth! At least look at him! _

She shook her head no, she would not—_could not_ meet those endless green depths.

"What's wrong? Did I say something?"

Oh no! Now he thought he was a problem! What if he left? What would Piper say? Would she ever try to meddle and play cupid for Annabeth again? This was just great, she knew she'd mess everything up even though she'd literally started with nothing and was working with absolutely zilch. Maybe she should just come out and say she liked him, she clearly had nothing to lose now that it had all gone to hell in all of three seconds and a mere four sentences, the equivalent of twenty-three words.

"Percy I need to—"

"Hey can I see your blueprints sometime?"

"W-What?" Annabeth stared owlishly at him, almost like she was scared of what he would say next which was ridiculous. They were just words.

"I was wondering if maybe you'd consider showing me your blueprints. I don't know anything about architecture but my mom loves that kind of stuff. I was hoping you could teach me a thing or two so my eyes won't glaze over like an idiot when she talks to me about it."

He was smiling…sheepishly?

"Uh…" she probably resembled a cod fish with her dropping jaw.

"Please? I think it'd be a nice thing to do for her. And it might make you less nervous around me…" he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose with the tip of his middle finger where they almost immediately threatened to slide down again.

Annabeth swallowed. Why was he looking at her so intently? Almost…knowingly? Her eyes flew open as she sucked in a breath.

_He knew._

And he wasn't shying away from her in disgust or embarrassment. Quite the opposite in fact, he was reaching out a helping hand, showing her kindness and possibly a bit flattered. Yes, she could see it in the rare little half smile he decided to let grace his features, he was pleasantly surprised.

But that didn't mean a thing for her. There were a million different routes they could take from here now. She could end up falling for him, and there were the chances that he would feel the same or he could treat her like a little sister or—gods forbid a _best friend!_ Of course there was also the possibility Annabeth would discover her crush was a small bout of infatuation and she could put it behind her in a matter of time. If that was the case then he needn't worry about her anymore and they would be free to go their separate ways, at least as separate as a school as small as this would allow. But what if something came of it? Would they get to experience all those memories couples are supposed to have? The long talks in the middle of the night, the refusal to hang up the phone, the innumerable selfies and going out on actual _dates_; all of which Annabeth thought of as grossly overrated.

Her head started spinning and going into overdrive trying to analyze too much information that were only possibilities. If she didn't stop soon she would get a head ache. Goodness this crush stuff was so complicated yet it was supposedly so simple. They could be something. They could be nothing. And it all depended on these possibilities.

"Sure. I'll bring some tomorrow. Meet me in the library?"

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**A/N:** First off I want to thank Kid and Soul's Girls for all her wonderful help otherwise I probably wouldn't have published this. Seriously I should think about begging her to be my beta full time, haha.

Anyway as you saw this one-shot was written for the birthday boy (you guys should spam his tumblr page with happy birthdays). For those of you who are fans of Relic you know his favorite style is angst/depressing fics with a subliminal message in them. I tried to do something of the opposite here which I'm sure I achieved but this one-shot wasn't just meant to be a bit of Percy x Annabeth fluff as awesome as pointless fluff is.

I wanted to expand on how people often don't realize how many possibilities there are. We usually see the big picture don't we? Get good grades in school so you can go to college, after college you get a job, eventually you get married and have kids and then THEY leave to do what you did. We kind of don't take the time to focus on the present, the little things in life that you look back on and think about how insignificant that moment in time was compared to what you have now. Sure you might think well I wonder what would've happened _if._ Something as simple as a crush. People get nervous around this one person, they worry and pine away for someone they barely know or already do know. They panic about what they could be doing wrong and I just think it's amazing. The fact that people can feel so many emotions in an instant and not know what could come from it but they do something anyway is mind blowing. The outcomes are all unknown, but people have the courage to choose and see where it takes them. And the quote stems from the idea that someone who you pass everyday can influence the rest of your life...and you would never know. That's something I like to just wonder about, it's definitely a captivating thought.

I hope you guys liked it, writing as a bystander is so very different than what I'm used to.


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